Gillibrand rolls out affordable child care incentives

CHENANGO COUNTY – With the rising cost of child care across New York, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced a plan to make child care more affordable and accessible for working-class New Yorkers in a press conference call on Tuesday.

At the heart of the proposed legislation is the mounting cost of child care coupled with a lack of available effective, child care facilities.

In 2012, New York State was ranked the second least-affordable in the nation for full-time day care for an infant, according to a report by Child Care Aware, a national independant agency that provides reliable information about quality child care and referrals to community resources.

According to the Child Care Aware study, a two-parent family in New York spent an average of 16.5 percent of their annual income on care for their infant. For a single mother in New York, the cost of care was greater than 57 percent of her income.

In response to the ever-increasing financial squeeze on New York working families, Gillibrand is championing the legislation to address the lack of access to quality, affordable child care.

“If you can’t afford child care, as many middle class families can’t, and you don’t have a family option, the choice you’re left with is to leave your job and stay at home to care for your children,” said Gillibrand. “That means less income for working families, more women leaving the workforce, and a weaker middle class. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can keep more working mothers in their jobs, and more children in quality day care – when we make it affordable – and make our policies reflect today’s reality that women have to work for a living. This isn’t a lifestyle choice. This is a fact of survival for many New York families.”